Cascade
by Mairead Monroe
Summary: Thirty-Five years old, childless and stuck in a dead end marriage to a dentist. When Hermione meets a stranger her life takes a sudden change. For better or for worse?


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Cascade

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Snap. Her heel broke. Hermione came cascading down on to the London street, her briefcase skidded across the street, and her bun came out of place. "Stupid shoes." She groaned, sitting on the kerb, picking up the three inch heel that had once been attached to her black shoes. She dusted herself off and was handed her briefcase by a kind stranger. 

"Are you alright?" The stranger said, his voice calm and friendly. 

"Oh I'll be fine." She said rather quickly, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Nothing a little glue wont fix." The stranger tweaked at his black hat for a moment, looking nervously over his shoulder. The silence between them was strangely awkward. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Hermione O'Toole." She put out her hand, but the stranger too it with trepidation. 

"I'm R-Roger Walsh." He muttered, looking over Hermione's shoulder. "Look, sorry Miss O'Toole-" 

"Mrs O'Toole actually…."

"Well, I've got to meet someone for coffee in Covent Garden, and I'm running late. Bye." And with that, the scruffy Roger Walsh scooted off in the opposite direction. Hermione shook her head, she was sure she knew the man from somewhere, but she was sure she'd never met a Roger Walsh before… He must have been a man with that sort of charm. She'd met people like that before… 

Hermione almost wished she still had her wand with her, she'd have been able to fix her heel if a jiffy - (it was now off to the cobblers across the road) but those days were behind her. After Hogwarts, she left her friends and the Wizarding World for good. Hermione couldn't bare to live in a world without Harry. His death had been a sickening shock to the world. His death was a self-sacrifice for the wizarding world, and Hermione didn't want to live in a world one of her best friends sacrificed himself for. She couldn't bare it. Each thing there would remind her of Harry, so she left to pursue the same career as her parents - dentistry. 

Hermione married an Irish dentist, Kaelin O'Toole, they were studying at the same University, and married soon after graduating. She was now thirty-five, trying for a baby, a soon-to-be-housewife, in a job and marriage she despised. All through her life she had been taught by her grandmother that a woman's strive for happiness would only end in misery if she didn't marry. She married, and was miserable… Maybe it was the ideals of the married life, or the husband she was forced to stay with for fear of being alone in the alien Muggle world that surrounded her. 

Yes, she missed the wizarding world and the friends she made during those seven years, she missed the odd customs, and the naivety of some wizards. She missed Harry and Ron especially, without them the entire world, Muggle or Magical, seemed alien. 

London was as unfriendly, and dirty as it always was. Everything was grey and dull as always. Her house was plain magnolia and beige, and her husband duller then the house. It all seemed grey to Hermione. She had to exert herself to satisfy everyone else around her. Her parents were only happy safe in the knowledge that _darling _Hermione was married at last to a suitable young man, and she did want children, and the only way she was going to get a child was to marry… Then she'd never be alone. 

Hermione was on her way to the fertility clinic, now running thirty minutes late due to the slight tumble in the street. Kaelin was due to meet her outside and they were going to find out the results of the fertility tests. 

"'Excuse me Miss. Yer shoe is ready." The cobbler said cheerfully, muting Hermione's thoughts. She paid him and slipped her newly fixed shoe back on her foot and dashed out, and hailed a bus straight to the clinic.

"You're a bit late!" Kaelin was standing outside a tall white Georgian building, his face ruddy, and covered in beads of nervous sweat. 

"I'm so sorry honey! My heel broke on Lewisham High Street, so I had to get it fixed. Luckily there was a cobblers in Lewisham!" 

"No time for excuses! Dr Harrogate said he'd be able to squeeze us in at quarter past four." 

"That's nice of him. Is there coffee inside?" Kaelin nodded angrily and opened the door for his wife. 

The stench of coffee in the reception area of the fertility clinic was strong, it soothed the couple almost straight away. A small lady came over to them pushing a tea and coffee trolley. 

"What will it be?" She asked, in a warm Welsh voice. 

"Black." Hermione said, fiddling with a silver button on her coat. 

"Two sugars, strong." Kaelin said, looking around the reception with trepidation. There was barely any time to take a sip of the coffee when; "Mr and Mrs O'Toole to room six please." was blurted over the intercom. 

Hermione sat in silence as Dr Harrogate was going through his little introduction, and explanation about fertility and infertility - all she wanted was the results… "Do you want the good news or the bad news first Mr and Mrs O'Toole?" Hermione felt her heart stop. 

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To be continued… 

Disclaimer 

Everything belongs to the ever secretive JK Rowling.

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Author's Note

Not written a fan fic in several months, and I thought I'd try something new, dark and (soon to be erotic). Well, that will only happen if you all review, hint hint ;) 


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